Family Food Flashback

A group of local food bloggers/foodie friends got together for a baby shower last month and got to chatting about nostalgic foods from our childhood. Heidi of Foodie Crush orchestrated the "around the circle" talk and got each of us to share a food memory, mostly from our mothers, that took us back to our little girl years. For the most part, none of us had a formal, gourmet upbringing and our fondest food memories were those of pre-baked, store bought, semi-boxed foods. A lot of us were giggling and connecting over funny food flashbacks and Heidi decided it would be fun to bring all of our memories together for one big food flashback post. Here is my contribution:

I mentioned two foods. One my mom still makes at Thanksgiving and one she used to make for lunches, when I was a kid. It's hominy. She ate it as a child and we both still eat it today. I love it. My husband thinks it is one of the nastiest foods out there but it's so comforting to me. A lot of the girls at the party had no clue what hominy even was and a lot of them did know but had never had it the way my mom and I (and my grandma and my aunts) eat it. I can remember eating a warm, salty, puffy, buttery plate of yellow hominy with my mom,on the couch, in the house I grew up in. I know for certain where I got my love of butter and salt... my mom. You have never known a woman who loves that combination more than my mother. I think she adds food in just to make herself feel better... she could salt a stick of butter and eat it alone, I just know it! I was excited to do this post just so I could make myself hominy.

Please follow along closely as this will be difficult for you to try at home.

1 can yellow hominy
1 T butter
salt

In a small frying pan, melt the butter. Drain the hominy and pour the contents of the can into the hot pan. Cook for 5 minutes, salt generously and eat.

I am not ashamed to admit that I have been known to consume the entire can myself.

The second food that reminded me of my childhood and my mother but that was also so far from gourmet yet so super comforting was Sour Cream Cheesecake. My mom has been making this for years! It's a Thanksgiving staple but I remember begging her to make it other times throughout the year too. I still sneak a small sliver every Thanksgiving. The ingredients make me laugh. Truthfully, I feel like Cool Whip has to be the most horrible invention almost ever yet... here it is... shining in it's glory. Without it, there would be no Sour Cream Cheesecake. When I was little, I had to eat a slice with a huge spoonful of canned cherry pie filling smothering the top... I pass on that now and just eat the pie! I'm including a picture of my mother's recipe card. I borrowed it for this post because the card alone brings back memories and because my mother's handwriting makes both she and i (and everyone else we know) laugh.




Please check out Foodie Crush for a complete list of all the Family Food Flashbacks.